Menu

Last Sunday Italy and Switzerland went to the polls. While forming a new government is likely to be difficult in Italy, Switzerland did not face much of split in opinion regarding TV & radio licencing fees. Read on for more in our #ElectionNews.

Italy: Many Victories but no Victor

On Monday just past, the results for the Italian parliamentary elections were released with just one recognisable result: there is no stable government in sight. The main positive sign, however, was a good turnout of 73%.

The strongest force came from the right-wing alliance formed around former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. While he is still banned from standing in office, his party “Forza Italia” and “Lega Nord” with some smaller partners received around 32% of the vote. This means that any hope of a majority or even stable coalition government is well out of sight.

The strongest single party was the Five-Star-Movement, which went into the campaign without any allies. Despite this, they received around 31.7% of votes cast which, while impressive, is also not enough to achieve an outright majority. Indeed, the Five-Star-Movement is against forming any coalition. While there will inevitably be talks between the parties, at the moment it seems this party will be forming the main opposition.

The biggest defeat came for the Social Democratic party: Partitio Democratico. They received just 19.1% of the vote, just under half of the votes they received in 2013.

An overwhelming no to „NoBillag“

The Swiss currently pay a considerable €400 EUR (451.10 CHF) per year for their public service television and radio. After weeks of debate, the referendum took place regarding the abolition of these fees. An overall majority was easily reached, with 71% of voters supporting the fees.

Far-reaching public sector reforms have been announced. The fees will be reduced to the equivalent of €316 EUR on the 1st of January 2019. The Young Liberals supported the “NoBillag” referendum alongside the SVP, both of which are considering holding a second referendum on the matter.

As always, we will keep you posted with the latest #ElectionNews as it comes in.